5 gift ideas that encourage health and fitness

By: Abbey Bowen

As someone who is really passionate about health and fitness, I love giving gifts that encourage my loved ones to stay in shape, especially throughout the holiday season.

These gift ideas are perfect for a fitness enthusiast or someone looking for help getting into shape:

1.) A wireless lifestyle tracker

This small electronic device functions to tracks your steps, daily activities, duration and quality of sleep, and how many calories you intake and burn.

Stephanie Vuolo, a health and fitness writer, promotes the lifestyle tracker made by Fitbit. It can cost anywhere from $50 to $130+. It can be worn on the wrist or clipped to a pant loop or belt.

Nike, Jawbone, Omron, Withings and BODYMEDIA and SPARKPEOPLE make similar fitness tracking products.

2.) A private personal training session

It can be really hard to stay motivated, whether you work out regularly or are trying to get into shape.

A personal trainer is the perfect solution to help anyone learn to exercise in a way that best fits their personal fitness goals and learn to make fitness fun.

(If you’re looking for a gift for a UW-Whitewater student, faculty member or those in the community, check out the personal training offered through Warhawk Fitness: http://www.uww.edu/ recsports/personaltraining/index.html)

3.)An old fashioned jump rope

This one surprised me. When I think of jumping rope, I think of a little girl with pig tails popping bubble gum singing a funny playground song.

 However, after reading  Vuolo’s post about the best gifts to give someone who needs to get into shape, this really made sense.

Exercise is all about convenience, especially for someone who isn’t used to fitting it into their daily routine. A jump rope, for example, is portable and can be taken to work for a quick workout during a lunch break.

Jumping rope provides a cardio vascular workout that raises the heart rate and tones the legs.

4.) A professional body massage

This gift provides loved ones with relaxation and fitness promotion.

Massage has been shown to exercise and stretch weak or atrophied muscles, increase joint flexibility, alleviate low back pain and increase overall range of motion.

5.) A kettlebell

These ball-shaped weights can be used as a fitness tool to increase strength, cardio endurance, balance and flexibility.

They can burn fat, build total body strength and increase total endurance.
Depending on the brand and size, kettlebells range from $10 to $150+.

I hope this post will help you find the perfect gift for your family and friends!
If you can think of any other items that fit on this list, please e-mail me at BowenAK15@uww.edu.

~Remember, you have to learn to love yourself before you can truly love someone else~
Abbey :]